Have the Washington Redskins Quit on the Season?

That's the question we all have to ask after Washington’s embarrassing 45-10loss to the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday at a half-empty FedEx Field.

This team looked disinterested and lacked pro-level execution on offense, defense and especially in the kicking game. There was a lack of focus on the poor technique, tackling and the same tired, worn-out offensive game plan.

That doesn’t win in the pros.

Come out flat in this league, or fail to play with the basic techniques that are taught back in minicamp, and you will get blasted.

This league is too hard, too talented to play a suspect brand of football and expect to see results on Sundays.

Are there bad losses in the NFL? Sure there are. And I’ve been a part of many as a player when the wheels fall off, the game plan stinks and you go home with a humbling defeat.

Hey, stuff happens. I get it. We all do.

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But this latest Redskins defeat is starting to look like a true reflection of the entire season in Washington. A season that should be viewed as a major disappointment. Or a major failure.

The entire team should be held accountable, because everyone is in it together when a season goes south in the NFL. It’s not one player or one coach that screws it up and makes coming to work (after yet another loss) a miserable experience.

I’ve read the report on Shanahan's future from Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman and how we should expect the coach to go (soon). It's almost inevitable at this point with Mr. Snyder running the show in D.C. He wants to win and has no problem making a change if he deems it necessary.

And with that possibility, plus the 3-10 record, comes the idea that this team has shut it down for the year.

I was in this same situation in Washington under Steve Spurrier way back during the 2003 season. After a 3-1 start, the season imploded down the stretch.

That included a 27-0 loss at FedEx Field to the Cowboys in Week 15 where Dallas fans took over our stadium.

We knew Spurrier was on the way out and we played like it, too.

I don’t think we mailed it in physically. The game is too violent for that type of nonsense. And no one wants to blow out a knee because they are standing around on the field.

But did we check out mentally? Yeah, that’s a different story.

We made simple mistakes in the secondary that cost us points, we couldn’t move the ball on offense and our special teams were average at best.

Sound familiar?

The next week, we dropped a road game in Chicago and were whipped by Donovan McNabb and the Eagles to close out the season with a 5-11 record.

Spurrier even tried to throw us a bone after the Cowboys game with a promise of drastically reduced practice time if we could beat the Bears in Week 16.

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It didn’t work.

The focus wasn’t there. Nor was the attention to detail in our game prep those final three weeks of the season. Meetings and film work became a chore, the tempo of practice slowed and, well, we just played out the string.

That was the drill, really, and I was relieved when the season ended. I had no problem turning in my gear, my playbook and going through the exit meetings.